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It seems like young real estate investors get more and more impressive every week. Today we talk with Cole Ruud-Johnson, a wholesaler and flipper out of the Seattle area. The impressive part? He’s 22 years old and has done 150+ deals to date! Even at 22, Cole’s journey wasn’t a linear path, he had lots of ups and downs to get him to the level of success he achieves now.

Cole tried to be a real estate agent at 18, but wasn’t getting the hang of it. After failing at a couple of real estate brokerages, he entered into a third and learned how they were creating their own inventory via cold calling. He decided he’d give this a try, and partnered up with his friend to cold call for deals.

After three months, an agent brought them their first off-market deal. This first deal alone netted them $105,000. Yes, you read that right, six-figures on ONE wholesale deal. This wasn’t enough for Cole, he knew he had to get back out there and work on getting his next deal.

Cole’s small business grew to a small empire, but over time this pushed him into a massive burn out. He had to make some BIG changes in his business, many of which even business veterans wouldn’t be comfortable doing.

Now he’s here with us on the podcast, talking through his lean team, his deals, his systems, and how new wholesalers can start getting deals. Cole even throws in the script he uses to get wholesale deals over the phone, so if you’re thinking about getting off-market deals or starting your wholesaling journey, this is the episode for you!

During childhood, Jim Kwik experienced a traumatic brain injury. As a result, he lacked focus in school, wasn’t able to read properly, and at one point, a teacher told him that he had a “broken brain”. So how did a kid with a “broken brain” become the leading mental coach for athletes, CEOs, and movie stars? Simple: Jim looked into how to learn instead of what to learn. Soon enough, Jim was reading faster, memorizing with higher accuracy, and doing well in school.

His friends asked him for some tips so they could improve their grades as well. With some success in his inner circle, he decided to make a flyer for speed reading and memory improvement classes. He put up the flyer at his college hoping one or two people would show up to his impromptu class. Over 100 students showed up, of which 71 signed up for a full course with Jim. After that, Jim knew it was his life mission to help those who wanted to learn, memorize, and live better.

So why is it so hard for some people to memorize things? We forget details all the time, whether it be names, addresses, phone numbers, or other important information. Jim goes through a simple method to memorizing any piece of information, called the M.O.M system. He also outlines 10 tips for a limitless brain, many of which you can implement soon after you finish this episode!

Even something as simple as reading slightly faster can allow you to save weeks worth of time each year. So if you’ve been beating yourself up over forgetting that one seller’s name, check out Jim Kwik’s podcast and his new book Limitless. As Jim puts it, increasing your memory and reading power not only adds years to your life, but life to your years!

Hearing Bryce Stewart’s story may sound familiar to long-time BiggerPockets Podcast listeners. That’s because Bryce was on Episode 276 where he gave the great metaphor “vacuuming out the truck” relating to real estate investments.

Bryce is back to talk about being a great mentor/mentee, what every contractor needs before working on a rental, how to go from active to passive real estate ownership, and his new book House-Hacker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

Bryce understands what it’s like to be a new investor. Every step seems hard, the end result seems almost impossible, so where do you even start? Simply, take a step forward, no matter how small it is. Even just starting to save a few hundred bucks a month can be your first step towards becoming a real estate investor.

As time goes on, these small steps become giant leaps, and what seemed impossible at first, can now be doubled since you have the know-how. Bryce takes us back to a time where he didn’t know how to get his property taxes lowered, but through very incremental steps was able to make a case and save himself thousands of dollars in the long run.

Looking for a mentor? Stick around to hear Bryce’s top piece of advice for any new real estate investor. This simple tactic can help beginner investors know more about what they’re getting into and also show the mentor they’re serious about their new interest.

When most people think of professional athletes, they usually think of superstars being paid millions every month (or even every week). Most people don’t come to realize that for everyone on an NFL team, that pay grade isn’t as high. That too, is what Hakeem Valles found out after being signed on by the Cardinals.

Hakeem wasn’t making a lot, and realized that he was essentially throwing away $2,000 a month on rent. After one season with the team, he decided to go on BiggerPockets and ask around for agents and leads in the area. Hakeem ended up with a LOT of responses and found a great agent who helped him close on a fourplex, which he house hacked while practicing with the team.

It’s hard enough to house hack when your tenants know you’re the owner, but it can be even harder when your tenants know you’re an NFL player. Hakeem’s advice: be a tenant of your own property and don’t let the other tenants know that you own the place. Doing this can help reduce some awkward encounters you may have.

After retiring, Hakeem went on to do bigger real estate deals and partnered up on a 40 acre farm! He also owns Perspective Global Media, where he counsels other real estate professionals on how to grow their reach through social media platforms like TikTok and LinkedIn. Hakeem drops some gems towards the end of this episode on how you too can use TikTok to gain followers, clients, and partners!

Believe it or not, TikTok isn’t just teenagers doing dances; there are actually some pretty influential investors on the platform. Meet Daniel Iles, a TikTok and Youtube creator who bought a staggering $1,000,000 in real estate during his first year of investing. Daniel was able to amass this serious sum of real estate while only putting $23,000 down. Now that’s impressive!

Due to an aggressive goal of reading 60 books a year, Daniel picked up a book that many of our listeners have heard of, Investing in Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down from our very own Brandon Turner. This unlocked the potential of investing in real estate for Daniel. He took advantage of FHA loans, using equity as down payments, and building his credit to get loans from small credit unions and banks.

Daniel now owns 9 units and a combined valuation of almost $1,500,000, still with almost no money down. Daniel stresses that his success comes from systems. Whether it’s systems about credit cards, loans, tenant management, deal analyzing, or anything else related to real estate investing, systems are the key to keeping your sanity when things go wrong.

He also has some tips for new investors trying to acquire a lot of real estate, in a small amount of time. Creating these systems for scaling will allow you to make smart decisions and invest in a way that doesn’t push you to burn out.